The death of Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a chartered Learjet crash near Baramati has jolted Indian politics and raised urgent questions about aviation safety for senior officials. The 66-year-old leader was among five people killed when the business jet went down while attempting to land, turning a routine intra-state journey into a national tragedy. As investigators sift through wreckage and CCTV footage, the loss is being felt from village party offices in western India to the highest levels of government in New Delhi.
The crash has also thrown a spotlight on the pressures and vulnerabilities that come with high-speed political life, where tight schedules often depend on small aircraft operating from modest airstrips. In Ajit Pawar’s case, a familiar route to his home turf ended in disaster, leaving supporters grieving and rivals suddenly recalibrating in a state that is central to India’s political and economic map.
The final flight into Baramati
According to multiple accounts, the chartered Learjet 45 carrying Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was on approach to Baramati when it encountered trouble during landing and crashed in an open field near the airstrip. Reports describe the aircraft as a Learjet 45XR operated by VSR Aviation on a charter flight, with five people on board, all of whom died in the impact and subsequent fire, details that match the official Baramati Learjet record. The aircraft was attempting to land at a local airfield that does not have a conventional air traffic control tower and instead relies on pilots to coordinate their own arrivals and departures, a limitation that has already become central to early safety debates.
Witness accounts and early technical summaries point to a violent end to the flight, with a large explosion and plume of smoke captured in CCTV footage from near the runway. A separate live update feed has highlighted how the crew appeared unable to stabilize the jet before impact and that no distress call was successfully issued, details that have circulated widely through Ajit Pawar Plane coverage. A concise summary of the event notes that on 28 January 2026, five people were killed in the Baramati plane crash involving a chartered Learjet 45, underscoring how a familiar route into Baramati turned fatal in seconds.
A veteran power broker cut down at 66
Ajit Pawar was not just another regional politician on a chartered jet, he was a central figure in Maharashtra’s coalition politics and a fixture in state government for decades. At 66, Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was widely regarded as a Veteran Indian Politician, a description that appears in national and international coverage of the Plane Crash. He had built his career through the cooperative sector and rural development, eventually becoming a dominant voice in western Maharashtra and a key player in successive state administrations.
Biographical records describe how Ajit Pawar first entered Parliament and later consolidated his influence in the state assembly, often succeeding Himself in key portfolios as alliances shifted. His prominence is reflected in dedicated knowledge panels that surface when searching for Ajit Pawar online, and in the way national leaders reacted to his death. Prime Minister Modi, in a condolence message, called him a “leader of the people” who was “widely respected as a hardworking and dedicated public servant,” a sentiment echoed in international reporting on the Veteran Indian Politician.
What we know about the crash sequence
While a full technical investigation will take time, a basic picture of the crash sequence has already emerged from official summaries and local footage. The 2026 Baramati Learjet 45 crash is described in an Article as involving a Learjet 45XR operated by VSR Aviation that crashed during a charter flight, killing all Passengers and crew. Aviation-focused reports add that Baramati airfield lacks an air traffic control tower and that pilots rely on self-coordination for approaches, a factor that may have complicated the response when the aircraft got into difficulty, as outlined in detailed Learjet coverage.
Visual evidence has played an unusually prominent role in shaping public understanding of the disaster. A CCTV still of a large explosion rising from the crash site has circulated widely, reinforcing the sense of how little chance those on board had once the jet hit the ground, a detail preserved in the 2026 Baramati Learjet entry. Live blogs have referenced New CCTV clips that show the final seconds of the approach, with timestamps such as 07:51 (IST) Jan 29 appearing in Ajit Pawar Plane. Aviation specialists have also noted that the Learjet 45 platform, while widely used for business travel, demands precise handling on short or lightly equipped runways, a point that recurs in analyses of the Indian deputy chief crash.
Shockwaves through Maharashtra and New Delhi
The political aftershocks of the crash have been immediate in Maharashtra, one of India’s most influential states. Local reports describe how Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar died in a plane crash near Baramati, with plans for last rites in his hometown and a stream of condolences from across the spectrum, details carried in official News On Air updates. The Governor of Maharasht has been cited as closely monitoring arrangements, while state institutions, including universities, have postponed events and examinations out of respect, as noted in rolling IST coverage.
Nationally, the crash has been framed as a catastrophe for India, with international outlets describing Ajit Pawar as the Deputy state leader among 5 killed in a plane crash in India. Another detailed account notes that Ajit Pawar, the Deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, was on board a small aircraft that crashed near his hometown of Baramati, a reminder of how closely his political identity was tied to that region, as highlighted in international Deputy reporting. Live coverage from India has stressed that Ajit Pawar, deputy chief minister of India’s western state of Maharashtra, died in a plane crash along with four others, a fact repeated in national India feeds.
Grief, anger and calls for accountability
Public reaction has moved quickly from shock to pointed demands for answers. One widely shared analysis notes that Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, 66, was among five people killed when the chartered Learjet 45 aircraft he was traveling in encountered trouble while landing, and that his death has triggered mourning, political tensions and calls for an independent probe into the circumstances of the crash, as detailed in a comprehensive Ajit Pawar’s Death report. That piece underscores how supporters see a pattern of inadequate safety measures for top state leaders, particularly when they travel on smaller jets into secondary airfields.
International observers have also framed the event as part of a broader conversation about political risk and infrastructure. One summary of the catastrophe in India notes that the Deputy state leader among 5 killed in the plane crash has prompted the national aviation regulator to confirm it is investigating the incident, a point made explicit in coverage of the Deputy state leader crash. Another detailed aviation-focused account stresses that Baramati airfield does not have an air traffic control tower and relies on pilot self-coordination for arrivals and departures, and that the Learjet came down in an open field near the airport, as described in the Baramati analysis. Together, these details have fueled a sense that Ajit Pawar’s death was not only a personal and political loss but also a preventable failure of systems meant to protect those who serve.
